Journey to Penang, Malaysia (Part 2): Sweatin' to the oldies (photos)

Announcement

Help support alivenotdead by inviting your friends and make sure that they add you as a friend. Post your photos/blogs frequently and help make this community ALIVE! Please don't friend request me if we've never met. I invite everyone to subscribe to my blog by clicking BECOME A FAN.

Albums

Previous Album |

Next Album |

All

Journey to Penang, Malaysia (Part 2): Sweatin' to the oldies (photos)
Wednesday, Jun 17, 2009 10:28PM / Standard Album / travel / Members only
17 pictures / 115 views
This is part two of my three part series on my trip to Penang, Malaysia (part 1). As I mentioned in my previous blog, Penang is a small island off of Malaysia that, like Singapore, Xiamen, and Hong Kong, was formerly colonised by the British. You might know that I previously lived in Xiamen (another island city off of China) and there's definitely alot of similiarities between Xiamen and Penang. Most distinctively, a majority of the Chinese in Penang trace their roots back to Minnan, the area in Southern Fujian that includes Xiamen and, consequently, most of the Chinese in Penang is spoken in the Hokkien dialect (which is nearly similar to Minnanyu, the local Chinese dialect in Minnan and Taiyu, the local dialect in Taiwan). The majority of the Chinese came over a hundred or more years ago during the great Chinese diaspora of the late 1800's so, like Taiwan, Penang has developed a regional Chinese subculture that is distinctly different from it's Minnan roots.

Did you know that the Khoo clanhouse is the historical center of Penang? Boon has an ancestral home...

The thing I find most fascinating about Penang is that the Chinese, Indian, local Malay cultures (each in a about equal proportions) live side-by-side in relative harmony for such a long time and the consequence is a really rich culture. In addition, for better or worse, Penang remains a relatively economically undeveloped island compared to it's Chinese, Hong Kong, or Singaporean cousins. Rather than rushing to tear down markers of centuries-old culture and replace them with fancy new condo high-rises, they've worked hard to preserve a good portion of their historical heritage including the old colonial-era buildings. The UNESCO-heritage preserved portion of the city doesn't just encompass a couple of city blocks, but rather preserves a large portion of the city (Georgetown) including the local Chinese "kongsis" (the family "protection" estates), mosques, and Hindu temples. The old Georgetown section is a lively patchwork of Indian, Malay, and Chinese businesses, restaurants and street vendors continuing a century old heritage of merchants.

Armenians apparently have their own street, too. Thereis a mosque and Sun Yat-Sen's planning base for the Revolution on the street.
I think I prefer the cleanliness and order of Xiamen (strictly planned and executed over the past twenty years like the rest of China), but there's still something to be said fo late night food stalls and street hawkers. While Hong Kong and Xiamen are busy closing down their night markets, Penang seems to fiercely celebrate the food stall and hawker culture in Georgetown.

Thanks to BadBoyBen and Arianne for playing host in Penang.

Check out the photo album below for more photos.

In this album: stephen (Pictures) , BadBoyBen (Pictures)

Album comments

Etchy
posted on Thursday, Jun 18, 2009 5:27PM [Report]

we're everywhere, along with our da tong zai!
Etchy
posted on Thursday, Jun 18, 2009 5:23PM [Report]

they should sell these at the whats good shop!
Junichi Kajioka
posted on Thursday, Jun 18, 2009 3:44PM [Report]

Wow, very beautiful! It's a ceiling, isn't it?
Boon
posted on Thursday, Jun 18, 2009 11:44AM [Report]

sweeet! When I die I want to be freeze dried and placed in a glass case in the center.

stephen

Stats

I'm the official [alive not dead] nerd. Welcome everyone and feel free to drop a line in my guestbook!...
More

I'm the official [alive not dead] nerd. Welcome everyone and feel free to drop a line in my guestbook!

I'm online about 23 hours a day, do alot of computer programming, and watch alot of movies and anime. I'm lucky enough to have help create companies over the years that take advantage of all of these things. Some people might call m a bit anti-social while others think I'm very outgoing. It depends on what time of the day you reach me -- I can be super-focused on my work or I can be the life of the party when I'm happy. I try to be happy, level-headed, and I DO enjoy meeting new people if they're also nice, happy, interesting people.

Born in Ohio, grew up in Maryland and Los Angeles, then moved out to the San Francisco Bay Area to attend college at U.C. Berkeley. I was lucky enough to catch the dotcom boom after I graduated and, being already an online nerd, did a couple of online companies with friends. Eventually, my adventure led to China, Hong Kong, and now in Beijing...
More
Age: 34
Gender: Male
Total visits: 241,482